Machine for cutting sticks from flat strips



March 27, 1934. w, KRAMER 1,952,926

MACHINE FOR CUTTING STICKS FROM FLAT STRIPS Filed Aug. 24, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR 26 [3471mm Erma r BY- ATTORNEY March 27, 1934. w KRAMER 1,952,926

MACHINE FOR CUTTING STICKS FROM FLAT STRIPS Filed Aug. 24, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I H I 1719 l I 10 Patented Mar. 27, 1934 PATENT OFFICE MACHINE FOR CUTTING STICKS FROM,

FLAT s'rmrs William Kramer, Richmond Hill, N. Y., assignor to Ideal Aeroplane and Supply Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 24, 1933, Serial No. 686,518

2 Claims.

This invention relates to means for producing sticks or slivers of wood for use as struts or spars in the production of model or toy airplanes, vessels and the like, and my improvement is em- J v bodied in a machine, which may be operated by hand, and employs a series or gang of circular cutters that when rotated serve to: feed a flat strip of wood and divide it into a desired number of sticks, but leaving the sticks connected at one end, for shop handling purposes.

Other features and advantages of my invention will hereinafter appear. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the machine.

Fig. 2 is a side sectional elevation thereof, taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, partial view showing the rear end portion of the table and the lever carrying the cutters.

Fig. 5 is a cross-section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the product.

In said views let 1 indicate a supporting frame upon which a table 2 is imposed, and fixed upon the table are parallel, spaced guide members 3, for a purpose to be referred to hereinafter.

Also the table is provided with a longitudinal slot 4 which has an undercut 5 for the reception of the head 6 of a screw '7 that penetrates a slide member 8, the screw being secured to said slide member as by a wing nut 9.

The slide member 8 is therefore longitudinally slidable and can be set in any desired fixed posi- 5 'tion Where it serves as a stop to localize a strip of wood 10 that is to be divided in the machine, such strip being imposed upon the table, between the guides 3.

A lever composed of the parallel arms 11 is ful- 0 crumed to the table as by pivotal studs 12 that engage said table at opposite sides thereof, said lever arms thus straddling the table.

The lever arms are connected at their free ends as by a pin 13, and they are also pivotally 5 connected at said free ends to yoke 14 which straddles the table and has a depending shaft 15 for its operation.

Journalled in the lever arms 11 is a shaft 16 upon which there are fixed as by a spline 17 a series or gang of circular knives 18, spacing washers 19 separating said knives suitable distances apart.

The shaft 16 is shown as provided with a handle 20 whereby it may be rotated by hand, although obviously power driving means may be employed.

In the normal, inoperative position of the lever A the knives are held above the horizontal plane of the strip 10, and said lever is to be depressed to force the knives through said strip when the slitting operation is to be performed.

As means for depressing the lever I have shown a lever system composed of the parallel members 21, 22 and the connecting links 23, 24. The lever member 21 is fulcrumed in bearings 25 carried by the base member 26 of the frame, said member 21 being provided with a treadle 27 for operation by the foot of the attendant. The lever member 22 connects with the shaft 15. A spring 28, connected at one end to lever member 21, and at its other end to 2. lug 29 that is secured to a frame member 30 performs the function of yieldingly holding lever 11 normally elevated so that the knives are spaced above the strip 10. But upon depressing treadle 27, thereby the knives are caused to penetrate strip 10, and then by rotating shaft 16 to draw the strip past them as they cut it into sticks or slivers.

It will be noted that the slide 8 is so positioned that the strip 10, when butted against said slide at one end, extends at its other end just beyond that portion of the knives which cuts therethrough when the lever arms 11 are depressed, so that the rear end of the strip is not cut through but constitutes a binding portion 31 (see Fig. 6), to tie together the slit tines 32 of the product.

While not limited to the nature of the material of which the strips 10 are composed, in practice I have been employing balsa wood as suitable in the manufacture of sticks for use as struts and spars for model and toy airplanes, vessels and the like, and I have found it more convenient in shop use to produce the sticks in connected form because the workers can readily detach the sticks, and the slit strips are more easily handled than would be the entirely separated sticks.

Since there is a tendency for the strip 10 to curl up under the knives in the feeding and slitting operation, I provide a guard in the form of a plate 33, carried by a hinge 34 which is secured to a transverse member 35 that itself is secured to the parallel levers 11, a cushion 36, as of soft rubber, permitting plate 33 to press yieldingly against strip 10 as lever 11 is depressed in the feeding and slitting operation.

The hinge is held against undue expansion, when the device is inactive, by means of a hooklike guard 37 which extends upwardly from plate 33 to curve over and be in normal contact with transverse member 35.

Variations within the spirit and. scope of my means for depressing said lever for penetration of the strip by the cutters and means for rotating the cutters to thereby feed the strip and slit it into sticks.

2. The subject-matter of claim 1, characterized by the provision of guard means, said means comprising a member carried by the lever, and a plate hingeclly connected to said member and operable in the depression of said lever to 00- act with the strip and prevent it from curling up around the cutters in its feed movement.

WILLIAM KRAMER. 

